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Modern Military Small Satellites list

The satellites listed below have been procured by or for various military customers. Of course many early satellites had military connections, but as launcher capacities improved military satellites soon became bigger. In this period the use of small satellites persisted  as sub-satellites for electronic intelligence within larger military satellite systems.

When the DARPA 52kg GLOMR was launched from the Space Shuttle in 1985, it initiated the interest in small satellites for military and civil applications, and subsequently DARPA, NASA, the Navy and the Air force have initiated various small-satellite programmes.

Small satellites have been applied to a wide range of military applications, including proof-of-concept missions, carrying specialised electronic intelligence (ELINT) or communication payloads. In particular, applications are targeted for quick reaction, and tailored support for specific tactical, scientific and strategic missions.

In the former USSR, small satellites have been used regularly in a constellation to provide short range tactical military communications. This system was maintained by regularly launching 8 small satellites from a single launcher into slighly differing orbits of 1400 x 1500 km inclined at 74.0 degrees. The first such launch was COSMOS 336-343 on the 25th April 1970.